Miyuki Aizawa

SCAD – Zombies, Steel, and One More Run Than Planned

Reverse bullet hell games are my digital comfort food. Right alongside simulators, they are one of my favorite genres to relax with.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term, reverse bullet hell games focus on surviving massive enemy hordes rather than carefully aiming at individual targets. Success comes from movement, build choices, and staying alive while the screen fills with increasingly dangerous enemies. Usually I have YouTube playlist, a podcast, or music playing in the background while trying not to get eaten by hundreds of monsters.

🚨👉 Disclosure:👈🚨

🚨👉I received a free review copy of this product from KeyMailer ! Thank you ^^👈🚨

This time, however, instead of controlling a lone survivor armed to the teeth, we take command of a mobile fortress built specifically for crushing zombie hordes.

That premise alone immediately caught my attention.

The gameplay follows a strong roguelike structure. Alongside classic survival objectives where you simply need to stay alive for a certain amount of time, the game also includes several mission variations.

Rescue missions require you to remain within a designated area to save survivors.

Defense missions challenge you to protect buildings from incoming waves.

Other objectives involve destroying zombie nests or completely clearing maps of enemies.

These different mission types help keep runs feeling fresh.

One feature I particularly enjoyed is the resource planning system. Before starting a mission, you can see which materials will drop on a specific map.

It may sound like a small detail, but it allows you to plan your progression and target resources you actually need. If I am missing a certain material for upgrades, I know exactly where to go.

After every successful mission, we can further improve our mobile fortress with additional modifications. This upgrade loop is what kept me saying “just one more run” over and over again.

There was always another upgrade to unlock or another build to test.

And of course, there are bosses.

Are they difficult? That depends largely on how you build your fortress throughout a run. Poor upgrade choices can make the final encounters surprisingly challenging. Fortunately, boss fights are not just stat checks.

Learning attack patterns and reacting properly is equally important.

It is worth mentioning that I played a pre-release version of the game. Several elements were still clearly marked as work in progress. Some artwork looked temporary, and there were occasional interface glitches, such as highlighted elements remaining active even when the cursor was elsewhere.

These are typical pre-release issues, however, and they never had a major impact on my enjoyment.

If I had to point out one feature I truly missed, it would be a map. In games like Vampire Survivors, Sodaman, or Megabonk, I love being able to check the map and see whether I missed a chest, a secret, or valuable resources.

At the moment, SCAD does not seem to offer that functionality. Every time I finished a run, I was left wondering whether there had been one more crate or one more pile of scrap hidden somewhere on the map.

(Note: The map in the photo simply shows the zone where we want to play, not the map while doing “the run” ^^)

After my first hours with the game, I can confidently say that SCAD is absolutely worth keeping an eye on. I see a lot of potential here, a satisfying gameplay loop, and several interesting ideas. My inner collector is already convinced that once the missing features arrive and development continues, this could become a very addictive addition to the genre.

And the rating? Why 5/10?

Because, to me, it’s nothing groundbreaking. The game doesn’t even try to be. It’s just another title with gameplay similar to existing games.

I’m sure, though, that you’ll enjoy SCAD if you’re into this kind of thing ^^

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SCAD – Zombies, Steel, and One More Run Than Planned

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